asdf forums

asdf forums - Privacy policy

Below is the list of the kinds of information we store about you; ALL of this information is strictly necessary to provide the service (message board functions), NONE of it is ever transferred to any third parties or used for any purpose other than provide the functionality of this message board.

- Your IP address:

What is it and how do we collect it:

Whenever you make a post on the forum, the internet protocol (IP) address of the computer you were using at the time will be recorded in the forum database.

How we use this information:

This information is only accessible to the administrators and moderators of the forum. It is never handed over to anybody else.
IP addresses can be used to permanently "ban" any user, preventing them from ever using the forum from that IP address. This is done at the discretion of the moderators and administrators.

Our legal basis for storing this information:

According to Article 6.1f of the EU GDPR (European Union General Data Protection Regulation): "processing is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by the controller" - our legitimate interest is twofold: firstly, the security of the message board, in particular the forum software´s built-in security measures for preventing session hijacking relies on IP address verification; and secondly, our ability for banning users with any efficacy relies on distinguishing between users based on their IP address. We need to be able to ban users in order to provide a safe environment.

- Your username:

What is it and how do we collect it:

Your username is a pseudonym you choose for yourself upon registering to the forum. It will be associated with every post you make on the forum.

How we use this information:

Posts, topics and messages on the forum that you make will have your username associated with them.

- Your e-mail address:

What is it and how do we collect it:

You need to provide an e-mail address when registering to the forum. This has to be a valid e-mail address.

How we use this information:

We use this to send a confirmation link in order to confirm that you are a human. Your e-mail address can be made public or private at your discretion via the user control panel, but by default it is private. This means that if you don’t change the settings, nobody will see your e-mail address (other than the board administrators and moderators).
In case you ever forget your password, we will use your email address to send you a password reset link. You also have the option in your user control panel to enable email notifications for when you receive private messages, or for when a topic you´ve subscribed to has been replied to (these features are optional and are turned off by default).

Our legal basis for storing this information:

According to Article 6.1b of the EU GDPR: "processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which the data subject is party or in order to take steps at the request of the data subject prior to entering into a contract". - Registering on the forum means entering a contract where you explicitly allow the use of your email address for the purpose of letting you log in to the forum.

- Your password:

What is it and how do we collect it:

A password is required to authenticate you when using the forum. You set this during registration, and you can change it at any time in the user control panel.

How we use this information:

The forum stores a one-way imprint of your password (a so-called cryptographic "hash"), which is sufficient to authenticate you, but cannot be used to determine the actual password you typed in. This information is secure in the database, but even if it were to be compromised, it cannot be deciphered. Even so, we highly recommend that you use a different password on every service you use.

- Your profile information:

What is it and how do we collect it:

In your forum profile, you may optionally provide any information about you (such as date of birth, location, etc.). This information will be visible by other members of the forum.

How we use this information:

This information is made visible to other members of the forum until it is changed or the account is deleted. We advise you not to publish any information that could personally identify you.

- Your posts:

What is it and how do we collect it:

As the way of participating in discussions on the forum, you may publish posts. This information will be visible by other members of the forum.

How we use this information:

This information is made visible to other members of the forum and any visitor, until the post is deleted or edited by its creator or a moderator, or the account is deleted. We advise you not to publish any information that could personally identify you.

Cookies:

Browsing the forum will cause the forum software to create a number of cookies, which are small text files that are downloaded on to your computer’s web browser temporary files directory. The first two cookies just contain a user identifier and an anonymous session identifier, automatically assigned to you by the phpBB software. A third cookie will be created once you have browsed topics within the forum, and is used to store which topics have been read, thereby improving your user experience.

Your right of erasure:

You may wish to delete any and all information you have entered on the forum at any time. This includes the following options:

Deleting individual posts:

You can delete any post you have made until it has been replied to.

Modifying the contents of individual posts:

You can use the "edit" button in the top-right corner of any of your posts to modify its contents, giving you the option to remove any information you may no longer wish to be public.

Changing your password:

At any time you can change your password via the user control panel. Changing your password will remove the one-way imprint (cryptographic "hash") of your previous password from the database.

Deleting your account:

You can message a moderator or administrator if you wish to delete your account. In this case, you may specify if you wish all of your posts to be removed or not, and if you choose to retain your posts, you may also specify if you wish your username to be disassociated with your posts or not. Upon deletion, any information in your profile (such as e-mail address or other contact information you might have provided) will be permanently removed from the forum’s database.

Your right to request a copy of the data we hold on you

When logged in, going to your user profile and clicking "Search user’s posts" will list all posts you have made on the forum.

Data storage:

All public and private user data is stored on a virtual server provided by Digital Ocean LLC, secured according to section 4 ("Security") of Digital Ocean’s Data Processing Agreement which itself is reportedly GDPR-compliant.